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We live in an unstable world that constantly tests our
assumptions about the human capacity for good and evil. We're not used to
worrying about such oddities as armed scuba divers and American recruits to
al Qaeda.

But these days, to quote William Butler Yeats, the best lack all
conviction while the worst are full of passionate intensity. Fortunately,
there's a simple way to put life on firm footing.

Don't give in on
principles. Embrace them. Live them. Pass them on.

A haunting video making
rounds shows an Arab television host encouraging a three-year-old to belch
out hate-filled slurs against Jews. That's what we're fighting: cultures
that poison their children, and send them off to die; a sociopathic ideology
that equates homicide with holiness. Father's Day was earlier this month, a perfect
time to make parents think about these things -- to attend to the nurture of
children, and the importance of filling their hearts with a desire for
goodness, justice and liberty.

The best defense against an odd and violent world is to teach our children well.

The Senate bailed out on the cloning issue. Two
proposals were on the table. One would permit so-called therapeutic cloning
-- creating an embryo in a petri dish, and harvesting cells for
transplantation in human beings.

Sen. Orrin Hatch argues that the embryos
aren't yet viable human beings, but are medically vital -- and thus,
acceptable cellular sacrifices for medical science. Pro-lifers disagree,
saying life is life, and that arguments used to justify therapeutic cloning
also justify creating clones for the purpose of harvesting body parts.

Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle suggested a series of votes: First on the
bill to ban all cloning; a second to ban all but the so-called therapeutic
cloning. Pro-life Republicans saw the staging as a way of killing the
cloning-ban, and letting senators pick the second bill, which they would
then claim as an anti-cloning measure. A mess: Only pro-abortion and
anti-abortion activists have fixed news on the matter.

The rest just want
it to go away -- which is exactly what happened.

The American Broadcasting Company has made news again on
the American patriotism front. Country music singer Toby Keith says the
network rescinded an offer to kick off it's July 4th special and perform his
hit song, "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)". He
says Anchor Peter Jennings heard the song and wigged out, demanding its
removal from the gala. That led to a furious public-relations campaign by
ABC executives and mouthpieces. ABC spokeswoman Cathie Levine acknowledged
that the network had spoken to Keith, but denied he had received any offers
of any sort.

"There were a lot of factors in play," she told reporters. One
such factor apparently was a line in the song: "You'll be sorry that you
messed with the U-S- of -A, 'cause we'll put a boot in you're a--, that's the
American way." Said Levine, "It's a song about anger. We want this show to
be about strength and character, a celebration of America."

Yeah but... Sometimes, the only way to show character, is to demonstrate you're willing
to fight for what's right.